


i'd brush the summer by

by meteorain



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2021-01-02 20:09:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21167159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meteorain/pseuds/meteorain
Summary: Lio gets a rare day off, and is convinced to enjoy it at the beach. It doesn't go quite as planned but maybe that's for the best. Things have a way of working out.  AU





	i'd brush the summer by

It’s the middle of July, the peak of summer. The beach is going to be packed and that alone is enough to deter Lio from stepping foot anywhere near it.  
  
His roommates, however, are raring to go, and Gueira points out that Lio needs this more than anyone. Lio knows he’s been busy (work, teaching classes, back-to-back weekends of volunteering) but he doesn’t feel anything remotely like fatigue. He _likes_ his schedule, even if his evenings have become a ritual of eat, bathe, work, and try to sleep for seven hours. It’s what he knows best; it’s how he _works_ best.

His friends understand him better than anyone but they’re also dedicated to making sure Lio remembers to live once in a while.  
  
“Boss,” Gueira tells him, far too gravely. “You seriously need to take a break before you drown in all this stuff. When was the last time you weren’t nose deep in a book or busy being a saint?”  
  
“I think you’re exaggerating,” Lio returns. He does, however, push away the thick textbook he was about to crack open. “But yes, I can see where you’re coming from. It’s been a while.”  
  
Lio arranges a weekend off, and their day out is two weeks later, on a Saturday at the crack of dawn. They pack up a cooler, layer up on sunscreen and pile into Meis’s car for the drive to the closest beach. They arrive early enough in the day that they find parking close to the entrance. The beach is filling up but there’s enough pockets of space to choose from.  
  
Lio takes the bag with their towels and blanket and goes off to find a nice spot equidistant from the shore and the car. After they’re settled, Lio lays back with his sunglasses and a book he’s been wanting to read. Lio doesn’t mind their teasing (“I told you so,” Gueira declares; Meis only shakes his head) and waves them both off with a promise to join them soon. The water is probably still a bit cold and Lio wants to enjoy the sun after being chilled in the car’s air conditioning for so long. 

  
——

  
Lio doesn’t remember falling asleep.  
  
He wakes up alone and grateful for the umbrella one of them opened up over him. He’s thirsty, so he moves over the few inches needed to reach the cooler. He’s halfway through a bottle of water when Gueira runs up to him, dripping wet, and asks if he’s finally ready to wrap up his catnap and get in the ocean.  
  
Lio feels like he could doze for another hour but Gueira shoots him a stare so pathetic that he can’t say no. Lio folds easily, always wants to do what he can to make his friends happy; besides, Gueira looks like he’s a moment away from carrying him to the shore to toss him in.  
  
The water is pleasantly warm and Lio is content to keep to the shallows, going as far as until the water hits his knees and soaks the hem of his swim shorts. It isn’t long before Lio finds himself much further out, shoulder deep, and he wonders how _that_ happened. But Lio laughs at Gueira fighting with the seaweed that’s tangled around his arm; he joins Meis in slapping the surface of the water in Gueira’s direction. It makes Gueira sputter out a colorful set of profanities that scares off more than a few kids and earns them disapproving _looks_ from parents.  
  
Naturally, this is when the sea swells and comes crashing down on them in a spectacular wave.  
  
Lio’s holds his breath as best as he can as he feels his body flip underwater. He bumps his head against something and he can feel the rough surface of whatever it is scrape against him. He bites back his gasp of pain but gets a quick taste of seawater before he’s pulled up. They reach the shore fast because Lio can already feel the wet sand at his feet.

Lio is set down, acutely aware the salt in the back of his throat. He doesn’t think he swallowed anything but the taste makes him want to heave. He coughs to clear his throat and is relieved when he doesn’t actually throw up.

“Oh shit, he’s bleeding,” Gueira exclaims, somewhere close by. Lio can’t make out exactly where because his head is throbbing and his eyes are shut.  
  
Lio feels the sudden weight of a hand on his shoulder, large and warm.  
  
“Easy,” comes an unfamiliar voice. Then it adds, louder, “Hey, please clear out everyone! He’s all right, we just need some room now so he can breathe and I can—hey, how are you doing?”  
  
Lio manages a nod, rubs at his eyes and sits back. When he hears the voices of the crowd disperse, Lio opens his eyes to see Gueira and Meis on his left. Lio works up a smile for them, thankful for their concern; he’s glad to see it evoke their twin sighs of relief.

“You’re really lucky. If your friends weren’t there, you might have drowned!”

Lio turns to see a confident smile greet him. Tan skin, wild hair, blue eyes—turquoise blue. He keeps his hand on Lio’s shoulder while he says, “But it’s a good thing Galo Thymos never takes his eye off anything out here. I made it out to you in less than thirty seconds!”

“Thank you, Galo Thymos,” Lio says, his brain trying to process the existence of this very loud man. Then, Lio feels something trickle down the side of his face. He reaches up to feel how bad his injury is but Galo reaches out to stop him.  
  
“Ahhh, wait! You have a pretty bad scrape up there. I think you might’ve hit a rock or something when you went under,” Galo says. He lowers Lio’s hand with more gentleness than Lio thought him capable of. “I don't think you need stitches but hold on, I’ll be _right back_.”  
  
Lio doesn’t have a chance to reply because Galo is already gone, sprinting towards a lifeguard tower in _leaps_. Lio can’t help but stare, baffled, and he wonders how much seawater he actually swallowed.  
  
It’s at that moment that Gueira explodes and verbalizes his panic, from which Lio barely makes out: “I’m sorry, you almost _died_, what can I do to make it up to you, anything you name it, boss, you want me to do the laundry for a month I will _do it_—”  
  
Lio quickly reaches a hand out to squeeze Gueira’s shoulder, smiles at his fretting. “I’ll be just fine, don’t worry yourself. Are you all right? I’m sure the two of you were caught in that, too.”  
  
“You definitely got the worst of it,” Gueira says, more calmly this time, watching Lio closely. “Didn’t realize you got hurt but when we didn’t see you come up right away...”

“That guy really was fast, though,” Meis comments, in time with Galo sprinting back their way. “He must have eyes like a hawk because he already reached us by the time Gueira brought you back up.”  
  
Galo returns with his medical kit.

“I’m back!” Galo announces, setting the bag down. He crouches beside Lio again and meets his eyes. “Say, what’s your name?”  
  
“Lio.”

“Lio!” Galo beams and starts to pull out various supplies. “Do you think you could do me a favor, and hold up the front of your hair? I don’t want to get your nice hair stuck in all this.”

Instead, Lio reaches up and slicks back his still damp hair, exposing his forehead.

“Or you could do that. Yeah, that’s totally cool, too,” Galo says, voice cracking midway. “Well! Just hold still and I’ll fix you right up. The most _amazing_ care you’ll ever get, swear you won’t feel a thing!”  
  
Galo cleans and bandages up Lio’s injury with deft, careful hands. True to Galo’s word, Lio doesn’t experience anything worse than the sting of the disinfectant used. Lio reaches up to feel at the bandage while Galo starts to pack up his kit. He continues to ask Lio questions about how he feels and makes Lio count how many of his fingers he holds up.  
  
“Lio, I think it’s safe to say that you are going to be perfectly okay,” Galo declares as he helps Lio to his feet. “You’ve got my Galo stamp of approval.”  
  
“What a relief,” Lio tells him, amused—and then he’s thrown for a loop when Galo _actually_ stamps the top of his hand with something. Lio, speechless, stares at the red-inked sun that smiles up at him.

“Oh my god,” Gueira says, and he sounds horrified. Meis is coughing in a poor attempt to cover up his laugh.  
  
“He doesn’t seem to have a concussion, but keep an eye on him you two,” Galo says. Gueira and Meis nod in unison, looking far too pleased for Lio’s liking.  
  
“I need to head back now but if you need me for anything at all, I am _right there_,” Galo tells Lio and he points to his lifeguard tower. As if, Lio thinks, there is any difficulty in spotting him.

“ANYTHING,” Galo repeats, pointing at them severely, eyes never leaving Lio’s. When Lio satisfies him with a mute nod, he takes off just as quickly as he’d arrived.

Lio, dazed, can distantly hear Meis ask him, “Okay there, boss?”  
  
“He’s doing well enough to ogle his hero while he walks away,” Gueira quips, and his shit-eating grin is _audible_. “Hate to see him go, love to watch him leave?”  
  
Lio lets him get away with that one. It gives him the opportunity to recover enough to admit, “It’s not a bad sight.”

“He’s an idiot,” Gueira decides.

“Yes,” Lio agrees, staring at the lifeguard tower a moment longer.

They spend the rest of the afternoon finishing off what’s left in the cooler and Lio isn’t allowed out of their sight. He does get relief when Gueira, after a measly two beers, falls asleep late in the afternoon. Meis has a glint in his eyes when he suggests to Lio that maybe they could waste the rest of the day making a sandcastle.

Lio’s long gotten over the one hiccup in their day, but all the while, he has a few thoughts that linger in the back of his mind. The warmth on his shoulder, a bright smile, a lot of blue.  
  
Lio downs the rest of his water and dumps another handful of sand atop a snoring Gueira.  
  
  
———

The sun is setting. Gueira wakes up in time to swear petty revenge on them both and help them pack up.

Lio pauses in rolling up the towels to take in the sight of the horizon. The sky is stretched with pink and orange, and he can barely make out the few stars that are beginning to show. Lio lowers his gaze to scan the length of the beach, until his eyes land on the lifeguard tower.

It’s empty, the sign stating that the lifeguard is no longer on duty, and Lio feels a twinge of remorse. He shakes out the sand from their blanket while Gueira and Meis tell him to catch up while they haul the cooler and umbrella back to the car.  
  
Lio is snapping the backpack shut when someone taps on his shoulder.  
  
“Hey,” Galo greets when Lio looks up. He’s still got his swim shorts on but now he’s sporting a black t-shirt, crew necked and form-fitting. It’s hardly the weather for dark colors but Galo doesn’t look like he’s bothered at all.

“Hello,” Lio replies, standing up. Galo looks at Lio from head to toe before he points at the bandage on Lio’s head.

“Looks like that held up all right!” Galo’s smile is content. “How are you feeling?”  
  
“A little sore, but no worse for wear. Thank you, again,” Lio says, offering his hand. It feels too formal a gesture but he isn’t sure what else to do. “You know, you’re very good at what you do, Galo Thymos.”

“Oooh!!” Galo's smile widens, all teeth, and he looks impressed. “You remembered my name!”

“If someone tells me their name, I remember it,” Lio tells him with a smirk.  
  
Galo returns it and snatches Lio's hand into his own. “Well, thanks, _Lio_.” Galo squeezes his hand and Lio thinks his heart might be getting squeezed, too; that’s probably dangerous. Thankfully, Galo lets go soon afterwards.  
  
Galo adds, “I’m surprised you didn’t head home right away after all that.”  
  
“The drive was long. I didn’t want to make the day a waste for them,” Lio explains, looking towards the lot, where Gueira and Meis are waiting for him.

“Oh, your friends! Hi!” Galo shouts at them, waving excitedly with both arms.

Gueira slams on the horn several times before Meis shoves him off.

“They’re very good friends,” Lio says. “They followed your instructions a little too well. I wasn’t allowed to move an inch on my own all day.”  
  
Galo laughs at that. “Well, I wanted to make sure you were okay before I left,” Galo says, and his eyes are kind.  
  
Lio feels himself smile again. “I appreciate it.” Then, because he’s feeling brave—because the way Galo is looking at him is so unabashedly happy—Lio asks, “Are you working tomorrow, too?”  
  
Galo pauses and looks thoughtful, as if he’s mentally going through his own schedule. “Oh, no, it’s my day off—actually! I wanted to ask _you_ something.”  
  
Lio tilts his head. “Oh?”  
  
“I mean—no pressure or anything, I just, um.” Galo looks flustered and it’s such a departure from that earlier confidence. Endeared, Lio waits patiently for Galo to continue. “I think you’re kind of—nice. So... I mean I know I said your hair was nice earlier, but I think that _you’re _nice, too, pretty actually—”

“Am I,” Lio says, and bites his bottom lip.

“Would you like to go out sometime?” Galo finally asks, maybe almost shouts, a little red in his face.

“Yes,” Lio says, maybe too quickly, but Galo's expression is so thrilled he forgets to feel embarrassed. There’s a beat of silence before Lio thinks to reach for his cell phone. He fumbles for it, clearing his throat. “I’d like that. I’m also free tomorrow, if you’re interested.”  
  
“That’s great! We could get lunch? Or whatever meal you like, I’m not picky!” Galo does the same, thumbing through screens on his phone. They share their numbers with each other. “So, the next important question, Lio ‘last-name-I-don’t-know’...”  
  
“Fotia,” Lio offers, while he discreetly adds in a little sun emoticon next to the text of Galo’s contact name before saving it.  
  
“Lio Fotia,” Galo says with something that sounds like awe, “What kind of food do you like?”  
  
“We’ll figure something out.” Lio says, and his heart definitely does double-time because the shine in Galo’s eyes is nothing short of brilliant when he adds, “I know a great pizza place.”

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to make something cute and I ended up rewriting this almost five times.
> 
> I like the idea of Lio being the one to introduce Galo to his favorite pizza place. Galo devours three pizzas on their first date and thanks Lio for improving his life tenfold as a result. Lio thinks “this man is an idiot, I think I could love him” while Galo thinks “this pizza is incredible, I think I’m gonna marry this guy.”
> 
> If you want to chat about how amazing Promare is, you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/sakuraining)!


End file.
